On Monday morning we started out checking on some of our experiments we have set up over the last couple weeks. First we checked on our grass seeds gardens. They have grown A LOT!
The kids measured their grass again. The tallest blade of grass was 5 inches! That means the grass has grown roughly 3 inches in 10 days (from Day 8 to Day 18)!
The kids drew their final observation on their "Growing Gardens Observation Record."
Then we thought it would be fun to give the grass seed gardens a "haircut!" I asked the kids to tell me what they think would happen if we cut the grass. Most of the kids thought the grass would die. Then I reminded them that their parents cut their grass at home (when they mow the lawn), and the grass does not die. I asked the kids to tell me what happens after their parents cut the grass. They nearly all replied with, "It grows back!"
We are curious to see if our grass grows back!
Next we checked on our leaves that we picked on the day we learned about leaves.
This is the photo from the day we picked the leaves...
This is the way the leaves look now. The kids explored touching the leaves today, and we discussed what looks and feels differently about them now. The kids all said, "The leaves died." They needed help with vocabulary words such as, "wrinkled," "shriveled up," and "dried out."
Next, we checked on our celery and carnations in colored water.
The kids found it most fascinating to see how much water the plants have absorbed!
There were bits of colors on each of the flowers petals. I love that the kids went right for our magnifying glasses to check this out more closely! They are true scientists!
Check out how much our celery stems have changed!
I love this photo! N is being silly with the magnifying glasses and S is looking at him like he is strange! Ha!
Next, we checked on our "Little Sprout Houses!" The beans seeds have all sprouted! We were all so excited about this one! This means seeds do not always need soil to grow! They need a warm, moist environment, and sunlight! We are very intrigued by this experiment! The kids are all wondering how big their plants will grow inside the bag!
The kids thought the roots look "sharp," and "pokey."
Lastly, we checked on our bags that have been wrapped around the branches of two plants outside (a Hosta plant, and a Lilac bush). We could visibly see signs of life by the amount of water that we were able to collect inside the bag. We measured approximately 1 tablespoon of water per plant!
The kids found it interesting that the water was tinted brown.
After checking on all of our experiments, we started our lesson on crows.
During circle time we reviewed our AABBCC pattern on our calendar for the month. The kids acted like a crow as they did a movement pattern of: caw, caw, flap, flap, peck, peck, repeat.
We acted out the following fingerplay:
"Two little black crows sitiing on a hill.
One named (Name), the other named (Name).
Fly away (Name).
Fly away (Name).
Come back (Name).
Come back (Name)."
We inserted the names of our friends in the fingerplay.
I explained that crows like to eat foods such as fruits, grains, nuts, acorns, snails, small birds, eggs, rabbits, mice, toads, snakes, and insects. Each child got their own copy of our "Feed the Crow" activity. I asked the kids to cut out and mix up their game cards. They spread them face down on the floor. The kids turned over one card at a time. If they flipped over a food, they pretended to feed it to the crow, and then they flipped over another card. If they flipped over the scarecrow, the game ended. The kids counted the amount of food flipped over and compared the amount to the unflipped food cards. They had fun playing this game a few times.
For our next activity, I asked the kids how they think crows communicate to one another. I explained that crows can make over 20 different sounds, and each sound means something different. We took turns pointing to objects in the room or our friends and making the appropriate first letter sound. We copied our friend's sounds. Then I asked the kids to build a block tower and try to communicate with one another by only making sounds. I thought this was a little silly, but you would be surprised at how much fun the kids had with this one! The kids love talking gibberish or making sounds! They always get a good laugh out of it!
For our next activity, I asked the kids how they think a crow uses its beak. I explained that crows are highly intelligent birds. They can pick up small twigs and use them as tools to find food. I set out a variety of nature tools (sticks, rocks, and leaves), and kitchen tools. I challenged the kids to problem solve different ways to use each tool to pick up and carry various objects. They could experiment picking up different objects or scrape, poke, and scoop things with the "tools."
I am not going to lie, I thought this activity was a little silly at first too, but the kids surprised me. They had a BLAST playing with these things! I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised though. Anytime you give kids unconventional tools they are almost always thoroughly entertained! Their curiosity sparks, and they are engaged for really long time! I was even inspired by their imagination!
Their favorite activity was cooking up some "soup."
I love this photo of J smelling the leaves. Kids smell everything don't they? I love that this activity enhanced their senses!
For our next activity, I asked the kids to show me what type of face they would make to scare crows away. They sure made me laugh as they demonstrated their emotions. Next, I set out this scarecrow building activity Mother Goose provided for us...
The kids had the option of copying a scarecrow that was already completed or building their own.
(I attached magnets to the back of our pieces.)
The kids LOVED this activity! They laughed nonstop as they built different scarecrows in silly ways!
The kids completed a mini-book from their literacy workbook. They matched the pictures provided to right page, according to the shape key. They practiced reading their book, and then circled all the letter F's in their book.
The kids worked on the diamond/rhombus shape in their journal today. They drew a rhombus and then added wings, a head, a beak, and feet for a crow. They completed the sentence, "The crow is..."
"The crow is black."
"The crow is a rhombus."
These were our books for today. The first book, "The Little Scarecrow Boy" was about a scarecrow that wanted to scare the animals away, just like his Dad does. The second book, "The Lonely Scarecrow" was about a scarecrow that was lonely and wanted friends, so he did not want to scare the animals away. After reading both books, I asked the kids which type of scarecrow they would rather be.
Some of the foods crows like to eat are fruit, seeds, grains, and nuts. For our snack we ate the leftover snack mix from our "Weed the Plant" snack we had on Friday.
After snack the kids cut apart animal pictures from their math workbook. They practiced sorting the pictures by color, size, and shape of each animal.
I thought it would be fun to let the kids eat their snack like a crow. They also practiced our AABBCC pattern we did earlier in the day as they ate (caw, caw, flap, flap, peck, peck). The kids got a lot of giggles out of this! They had so much fun eating with no hands!
I also took out two more activity mats from our Lakeshore "Plants" magnetic tin set...
Every time the kids learn something from Mother Goose Time, they are always on the look out for that same thing in their everyday lives. The kids were playing computer today, and quickly pointed out that we have a scarecrow game! They have played this Lakeshore alphabet game for months, but today it took on a whole new meaning to them!
**Fellow Teachers: FYI - If you are interested in getting a classroom/home computer for your kids, talk to friends, fellow parents, and nearby businesses! Many people are constantly upgrading and looking for a way to dispose of of old computers. I received this very GENEROUS gift from a preschool parent last year. The computer is not linked up to the internet. I have purchased over 20 preschool games from Lakeshore Learning for it. The kids know how to play independently, and they have learned SO MUCH in doing so!
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